From the Rolls-Royce experimental archive: a quarter of a million communications from Rolls-Royce, 1906 to 1960's. Documents from the Sir Henry Royce Memorial Foundation (SHRMF).
Proposed modifications for steering geometry, self-centreing, shock dampers, and radiator mounting.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 154\1\ scan0092 | |
| Date | 26th January 1934 | |
| -2- wings. Temporarily we shall use wings as fitted to production chassis for test. STEERING. Road shocks are distinctly inferior to our standard car. This we think is due to the bad geometry of the cross steering tube. In order to prove this we are going to build a cross steering tube in three pieces, keeping the length of the outside pieces the same as the length of the triangular brackets, as FIG.II. This brings the geometry correct. There will be a slight variation in the track of the car over bumps, but this we consider unimportant. Self-Centreinq. When parking the car the steering becomes very hard work on each lock, although the self-centreing effect is not pronounced under ordinary road conditions. The friction in the pivots due to the weight of the car is considerably less than our standard cars. We are proposing to reduce the transverse pivot lean to that of a standard car, and increase the backward pivot lean slightly. We shall reduce the transverse pivot lean by fitting triangular brackets of reduced length at the bottom. This will cause the road wheels not to be upright, but we do not think this will matter for our tests. SHOCK DAMPERS. The original design gave the front dampers three times the load of the rear dampers. So the car originally had 900 lbs. on the front. C.L.698 was designed to overcome this feature by fitting a valve of three times the effective area. As far as we can tell only a small amount of damping is necessary to stop pitching as long as the buffer springs are not hit. RADIATOR MOUNTING. Frame jellying is approximately the same as a standard car. The centre radiator movement is far too small and the control springs either side are too strong. Centre radiator mountings are very effective when ample movement is given and there are no springs opposing its movement. It is impossible however with this scheme to have no springs opposing the radiator movement, as these are the only method for securing the radiator to the frame. In order to reduce radiator movement and bonnet knocks we have had to mount the radiator solid to the chassis, but we think a proper centre mounting will be necessary. Hs{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair}/I.A.Leslie. | ||